Celebration of gay film

The annual festival devoted to the tolerance, understanding and celebration of the gay, lesbian and transgendered communities gets a name change this year. The Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival uses the multi-colored symbol as acknowledging both its local roots, as well as the flag that stands for gay and lesbian pride.

Winston Welch, executive director of the Honolulu Gay & Lesbian Cultural Foundation, says there are several highlight films at this year's festival. The 7:30 p.m. Thursday opener at the Honolulu Academy of Arts' Doris Duke Theatre is the documentary "Pursuit of Equality," co-directed by Mike Shaw and producer Geoff Callan.

Callan is the brother-in-law of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and thanks to that familial connection, he and Shaw were able to film a momentous marriage ceremony that would resonate as a hotly debated civil rights topic throughout the country and the White House. Performed before the mayor's senior staff, the iconic lesbian movement couple of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were wed on the morning of Feb. 12, 2004, thereby becoming the first same-sex couple to be married in the U.S.

"Pursuit of Equality" offers exclusive footage of private closed-door discussions with Newsom and his staff. Filmmakers Shaw and Callan, along with others, will be special guests of the festival.

As crystal methamphetamine has devastated lives here in Hawaii, it's done the same in the gay community, and the documentary "Meth" (4 p.m. Saturday) tells all about the once-secret use of "Tina" that prevails throughout the homosexual culture. Filmmaker Todd Ahlberg does a good job of both juggling revealing interviews with recovering addicts and quick-cut filmic techniques that show the seductiveness of the drug. From its origins as the "hip" drug of the circuit party scene of the '90s, to its all-too-familiar destructive results of paranoia and chemical dependency, "Meth" offers an unblinking eye -- and hope -- on a dark corner of gay life.

Sunday at 6 p.m. will be the screening of "Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema." Before the phenomenon of "Brokeback Mountain," gay and lesbian-themed films were, and still are, part and parcel of independent cinema. The documentary follows the continuing evolution of queer cinema, from early experimental films through the cutting-edge filmmakers of today. Noted filmmakers and actors such as John Waters, Alan Cumming, John Cameron Mitchell, Todd Haynes, Heather Matarazzo, Rose Troche, Gus Van Sant and Christine Vachon are interviewed.